In the northwestern region of Xinjiang, about 3,400
people were stranded on blocked expressways after two days of snow, the
China Daily said. Temperatures in the region have plunged by about 18C.
Snowstorms also hit northern Inner Mongolia and Gansu province.

Hundreds of thousands of people made homeless by
the devastating May 12 earthquake are sleeping in tents or temporary
housing in the mountains of Sichuan and surrounding southwestern
provinces where temperatures at night can fall well below freezing.